Chapter 10
Between a Zippo and a Hard Place
Even with his CME tags, Garret parked half a block away from the Stafford Arms. The road was clogged with vehicles ranging from fire trucks to news vans and everything in-between. Jordan's rag-tag El Camino looked out place smack dab in the middle of.
He flashed his badge and crossed the police tape fully intending to find the officer in charge when he saw Woody talking to a member of the SWAT team. He waited until he caught the detective's attention.
"I should just let her go, you know," Garret said without preamble. "I don't have much hair left as it is. I can't afford to lose any more." As much as he grumbled there was no mistaking the concerned in Garret's voice. "Any updates?"
Woody shook his head. Jordan was barricaded in a room with two dead lovers and a suicidal murderer. She thought she could talk him out of taking one more life by risking her own. To be honest, Woody wasn't all that surprised. "At least nobody's reported smelling smoke."
"Yet."
"It's one thing about Jordan, Doc...She always lands on her feet. We've just got believe she knows what she's doing this time too."
What the hell am I doing?
The room was choking with gasoline fumes. Jordan's eyes were stinging. Her throat was burning. She cursed her fuzzy head.
She quirked a little smile thinking about a firefighter she dated once. He was the department PR poster child, touring grade schools and church groups all over the city of Atlanta. With his smoky grey eyes and honey, sweet southern accent, he lectured on fire safety issues including the combustibility of chemicals such as gasoline. Drop a match in a pool of it and it would probably go out. On the other hand...wave that same match near it and...BOOM! Remember, it's not the puddle thata kill ya...it's the fumes.
If she doesn't suffocate first.
Two hours ago her biggest dilemma was trying not to put a name on the reason why it was so hard to delete Woody's latest email to her junk-mail file like the rest. Now, not only was she trapped with desperate, distraught man, but there probably wasn't a dry cleaner in the entire city that would touch the clothes she was wearing.
...and the jacket's new damnit. If I can get out of this in one piece the Chilean and I are going to have some serious one-on-one time...
"Dr. Cavanaugh?" A call came from outside the door. Jordan recognized the voice as one of the uniforms that was one the scene when she arrived.
"I'm fine," she yelled back. "We're just talking in here...right John?"
"I told you once already! Leave. Us. Alone!"
Drenched with fuel, John Baker was a surprisingly frail looking man, but the knife he was carrying was anything but.
"Do as he says...please."
"Fall back!" Jordan was fairly confident the uniforms were backing off only because the SWAT team was already to step in. If she wanted to get Baker out of there alive it was up to her.
"What happened? Why are we here John?"
"I think that's pretty obvious. Don't you, Dr. Cavanaugh?"
Jordan stood by as he dragged his wife's lover's body off the bed like he was a bag of dirty laundry, dropping him against the door, blocking the exit.
"I begged her to think twice about this. We've been married less then a year. I love her so much it hurts."
Unceremoniously, he tossed the bedspread over the corpse and thrust the knife into its back as if to keep the cover in place. Jordan's seasoned stomach even rolled at the sound.
"Why?" he looked up, asking breathlessly.
"I can't answer that for her. Nobody can. Maybe, it was too much too soon. I am sure she didn't set out to intentionally hurt you. I'm just as sure she wouldn't want you to do this. You and me. We can walk out of here..."
"You sound just like her," he cut in. "She said it was too intense. She needed to step back and re-examine our relationship. Why? What we had was...perfect. I'm sorry you had to see this. Jenny isn't a bad person."
John Baker then tenderly pulled the bed sheet up to cover the gaping wounds in his wife's chest, and lovingly brush the hair away from her face. "The first time I saw her I thought she looked like an angel. I asked her to marry me on our first date."
There was movement outside the door. Time was running out. Jordan needed to win his confidence. "Tell me about her John. How did you two meet?"
"It was kismet that we found each other like we did. Believe it or not, we fell in love on-line. Through a dating service."
Jordan wanted to roll her eyes. It seemed like the whole world had jumped into this web-mating thing...including the delusional ones. "Actually, I can."
"You don't sound surprised."
"It's not that uncommon these days with busy schedules, busy lives. Online dating is convenient. Sometimes the old-fashion way needs to take a back seat to time management..."
"It wasn't like that for Jenny and me. In fact it was nothing less then a true courtship. We'd spend hours discussing literature, philosophy, music. Jenny poured her soul in her words and they spoke to me with a passion I've never known before. I adored her before I ever saw her face. We found the purest kind of love and in the last place I expected it."
"It sounds like you two really connected."
"Without the distraction of the outside world, we were able to bond on a totally cerebral level. We made a conscious decision to keep our love pure, not spoil it with the natural disappointments of a physical relationship," he said, his tone almost reverent.
"You mean, you two...never...?"
"The quest for purity asks for sacrifices."
"Even after you were married?"
Jordan's jaw must have dropped because he addressed her like she was comprehending in some foreign language. "Of course! What we had was far beyond our earthy bodies. We were soul mates."
And apparently one of you got tired of cold showers...
"Have you ever been in love before Dr. Cavanaugh?
His question made her blink. "I might have been...a time or two," she replied honestly.
"No, I don't mean just two sets of glands calling out to each other."
"I thought that was what love is."
"I mean true love. Companionship, trust, affection...friendship."
Jordan didn't know what to say. She could barely admit these things to herself let alone discuss them to a killer...and anyone else listening in through the door. But the longer she kept him distracted the more likely she could get him out safely.
"Once," she shrugged. "In fact, I met him online."
"So you DO understand."
"What you and Jenny had was...yours alone," she said carefully.
"Still, you know what its like to know someone without the distraction of sex,"
Jordan flashed a lopsdied smile. "Something like that."
"Tell me, please. What happened?" he prompted, and Jordan felt compelled to reply.
"HarborRunner was charming...witty, compassionate...understanding," she smiled uncomfortably. "Everything I didn't realize I wanted in someone special...until I got to know him. He came into my life when I was trying to forget someone else. For awhile there, I thought I was falling for him...it just wasn't the right love."
"You still had feelings for this other person. I'm sorry."
"Perhaps," she shrugged. "Woody and I shared something built over time and experience. We saw each other at our best and worst. We didn't have the luxury to hide behind a carefully worded email.
"We went through some rough times and didn't come through unhurt. Still, he was there for me...even when it seemed like he wasn't. I just never really appreciated it. The same way he had a hard time understanding me. I've treated him like crap, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out he's right outside this building ready to kick my ass for being in here."
"I'd never hurt my Jenny. Never." John said indignantly.
"I know," she said calmly. "I know you didn't mean for this to happen. I can help you John, if you only let me."
"I'm sorry you had to get involved in this. I'm sorry for him."
"Come on, take my hand," she took a step closer, holding it out. "Let her go John."
"It's better this way. You'll see," he said pulling a lighter out of his pocket.
"It's been a long day. Give me the lighter and we can go get some fresh air."
"I can't do that. I can't leave her. I'm so sorry..."he said, his voice almost dispassionate like he'd already used up all his emotions.
"Are you going to kill me too?"
Jordan watched in horror as he kissed his wife's lips tenderly and quietly flicked the flint.
Oh God... "NOOOO!"
The whooshing sound of ambient room oxygen being ignited was unmistakable. Jordan felt the hot flash on her back.
"NOOOO!"The call "Fire!" cantered down the narrow stairwell and was quickly followed by a controlled chaos of fireman and equipment racing up. If it weren't for Garret, Woody would have been pushing his way through to the front of the line.